“Sociology 5.0” in the XXI Century

The evolution of the digital technology revolution necessitates the development of numerous social sciences. Industrial Revolution 5.0 is an important material basis for the formation of “Society 5.0"—a super-smart society. Hence, “Sociology 5.0” also needs research attention to solve new digital social problems in “Society 5.0” compared to previous types of society. Based on the analysis of the latest digital databases, Scopus and Web of Sciences, the article analyzes: (1) a brief history of the formation of “Sociology 5.0”; (2) the main content of “Sociology 5.0”; and (3) the opportunities and challenges of “Sociology 5.0.” Currently, there are practically no sociological studies devoted to this issue. However, based on the author’s diagram above, “Sociology 5.0” has several important characteristics: (i) “Sociology 5.0” is a new narrow subdiscipline of modern sociology; (ii) “Sociology 5.0” is a new stage in the development of sociology in postmodern society, based on the inheritance of the rational cores of “Sociology 3.0” - classical sociology, “Sociology 4.0” - digital sociology; (iii) “Sociology 5.0” has its basis in science, technology, and sociocultural conditions for the formation - achievement of Industrial Revolution 5.0 and “Society 5.0"—a super-intelligent society is gradually being achieved, formed, and developing in many countries after 2015 (for exam­ple, Japan); (iv) “Sociology 5.0” is not separate or independent from the immediately preceding Sociology 4.0. Having become a scientific discipline, “Sociology 5.0” should aim to study not only real (physical) social life in the era of high digitalization, but, more importantly, the system of relations based on the rules of interaction between real life, real-digital life, and digital social life in the era of high levels of digitalization. These key findings contribute to the evidence that “Sociology 5.0” can emerge as a promising subdiscipline of sociology in the 21st century.